Alarm has been rising in Washington over the extent of Chinese influence in the U.S., with particular focus on universities and their research as well as on concerns around China’s acquisition of critical U.S. technologies that it needs in sectors as diverse as semiconductors and aeronautics. Now, a new bipartisan investigatory report from the Senate […]
One would think it’s a given that investment strategies would change in the strange times we find ourselves. With the economy staggering and so much general uncertainty, it seems caution would be the watchword of the day, especially in the enterprise. But enterprise investors aren’t necessarily looking at what’s going on right now. As startups […]
It’s been a big period of positive change for Yugabyte, makers of the open source, cloud native YugabyteDB database. Just last month they brought on former Pivotal CEO Bill Cook as CEO, and today the company announced it has closed a $30 million Series B. 8VC and strategic investor WiPro led the round with participation […]
Database security startup jSonar has secured $50 million in new funding from Goldman Sachs . The company, with offices in Waltham, Mass. and Vancouver, B.C., will use the new funding to grow its database security offering. In return, Goldman Sachs executive David Campbell will join jSonar’s board. jSonar’s database security platform can monitor every one […]
Grammarly, the popular tool that aims to help you avoid grammar and style gaffes, today announced the launch of custom style guides for its paying business users. Like with any style guide, the idea here is to ensure that business communications are consistent. You wouldn’t want one email to say “datacenter” while the other says […]
The three founders of Collab Capital, the newly launched Atlanta-based fund with a $50 million target and a mission to help Black entrepreneurs, are intimately aware of the struggles that Black founders face — because they are all Black founders themselves. Managing Partners Jewel Burks, Justin Dawkins, and Barry Givens have all founded companies, have backgrounds […]
The TechCrunch crew has worked to keep tabs on this year’s startup accelerator classes. Conventional wisdom in startup land states that great companies are founded during more trying economic times. Well, a recession was declared yesterday by the National Bureau of Economic Research. We should, therefore, see some breakout startups in the next few years. […]
DNAnexus, which provides a cloud platform for governments, universities, doctors, and pharmaceutical companies to tap into DNA and other clinical datasets and collaborate on scientific research projects, is today announcing a big step ahead in its efforts to grow its reach and purpose. The 10 year-old startup, originally spun out of Stanford’s school of medicine, […]
For years now, analysts and unconfirmed reports have suggested Apple was working on transitioning its Mac line of computers away from Intel -based chips, and to its own, ARM-based processors. Now, Bloomberg reports that the company could make those plans official as early as later this month, with an announcement potentially timed for its remote […]
Apple has updated its own COVID-19 iOS app and website with new features to allow users to anonymously share info including their age, existing health conditions, symptoms, potential exposure risks and the state in which they’re located. This info, which is not associated with any of their personal identifying data in any way according to […]
Beijing Eswin Computing Technology, a Chinese startup that supplies semiconductor design and solution provider, has raised $283 million in a new financing round at a time when the world’s most populous nation is looking to cut its reliance on the U.S. and UK for chipsets. The four-year-old firm said the new round, Series B, was […]
Fintech startup Klarna is launching a rewards program called Vibe this summer. If you use Klarna as your payment method, you’ll start earning points for every $1 you spend. You can then redeem your points for gift cards at Starbucks, Sephora, Foot Locker and Uber. Klarna is best known for its buy now and pay […]
South Africa based renewable energy startup Sun Exchange has raised $3 million to close its Series A funding round totaling $4 million. The company operates a peer-to-peer, crypto enabled business that allows individuals anywhere in the world to invest in solar infrastructure in Africa. How’s that all work? “You as an individual are selling electricity […]
Propzy, a Vietnam-based startup that guides consumers through the entire process of a real estate transaction, announced it has raised a $25 million Series A led by Gaw Capital and SoftBank Ventures Asia, the early-stage venture arm of SoftBank Group. Other investors included Next Billion Ventures, RHL Ventures, Breeze, FEBE Ventures, RSquare and Insignia. Instead […]
Flipkart is rolling out a voice assistant feature to its platform to make it easier for consumers to shop as the Walmart-owned e-commerce giant looks to expand its reach in the nation. The AI-powered voice assistant currently supports grocery category, called Supermart, but a company spokesperson told TechCrunch that Flipkart will soon be extending it […]
Wing, an early-stage, Palo Alto, Ca.-based venture firm that was formed in 2013 by veteran VCs Peter Wagner and Gaurav Garg, has closed its third fund with $450 million in capital commitments. That’s substantially larger than the $300 million that the firm raised for its second fund — and it was raised entirely virtually, says […]
The town of New Providence, N.J. may seem like an unlikely home for a company that’s just inked a new deal with Big Hit Entertainment (the label behind the global K-pop supergroup BTS) and raised tens of millions of dollars from some of the largest venture capital firms in the United States, but Kiswe Mobile […]
A South Korean court denied an arrest warrant request for Samsung Group heir apparent Jay Y. Lee, saying that although prosecutors’ secured “a considerable amount of evidence,” it was still not enough to detain Lee. Prosecutors filed for the warrant last week, accusing Lee of accounting fraud and stock manipulation. Prosecutors allege that the value […]
IBM CEO Arvind Krishna announced today that the company would no longer sell facial recognition services, calling for a “national dialogue” on whether it should be used at all. He also voiced support for a new bill aiming to reduce police violence and increase accountability. In a letter reported by CNBC, written in support of […]
While most air travel continues to be ground to a halt, a German startup working on what it hopes will be a major breakthrough in flying has raised more funds to continue building its service. Lilium, which is designing an all-electric vertical take-off and landing aircraft that it plans to build into a taxi-style fleet […]
